Campaign Documents Show Depth of Bush Fund-Raising 



      May 5, 2003
      Campaign Documents Show Depth of Bush Fund-Raising
      By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.


      ASHINGTON, May 4  As President Bush's fund-raising team prepares for his 
      re-election campaign, documents subpoenaed from the 2000 campaign suggest 
      that he will have an even deeper base to draw from than was previously 
      realized.
      The documents, which surfaced in the courtroom fight over the new campaign 
      finance law, offer new details about Mr. Bush's most active fund-raisers  
      including his top three, who were awarded plum jobs as ambassadors.
      They also show that more than 500 people signed up to be "Pioneers" by 
      promising to raise at least $100,000 for Mr. Bush from individual donors. 
      Previously, the Bush campaign had said that about 230 people had become 
      Pioneers by raising $100,000.
      It is not clear how much money the other people who signed up to be 
      Pioneers were able to raise, as the data turned over under subpoena is 
      incomplete and does not cover the last months of the campaign. A spokesman 
      for the Republican National Committee said this afternoon that officials 
      were unaware of anyone raising more than $100,000 besides the 230 people 
      already disclosed.
      Still, the records underscore the depth of the Bush fund-raising machine 
      and suggest that Mr. Bush's totals are likely to soar in his re-election 
      campaign, when fund-raisers will be able to take advantage of higher 
      limits on donations. Under the new McCain-Feingold law, individuals can 
      donate up to $2,000 to a candidate, or twice the $1,000 limit in force 
      during the last presidential race.
      The documents were obtained by the National Voting Rights Institute, a 
      group in Boston that has challenged the increased limits.
      The higher limits will continue to force "electoral power upwards," said 
      Bonnie Tenneriello, a staff lawyer at the voting rights group.
      "If you are a candidate whose supporters are only able to give $25 or $50, 
      they're not going to stand a chance when candidates who have big networks 
      in place are able to haul in the money from large donors in such large 
      increments," Ms. Tenneriello said.
      An analysis of the documents shows that the 21 most successful Pioneers 
      raised at least $6.6 million. At least $24.9 million was collected by the 
      Pioneers.
      But the true number may be significantly higher, as the information turned 
      over by the Bush campaign only lists money collected through March 15, 
      2000. In all, the campaign raised about $100 million, and Bush officials 
      say they are planning to raise twice as much, or more, for the re-election 
      campaign. 
      The top Pioneer was the team of William Dewitt and Mercer Reynolds, 
      Cincinnati businessmen who raised $605,082. After the election, Mr. 
      Reynolds was appointed ambassador to Switzerland, though he recently 
      stepped down. Both men have a long history with Mr. Bush: In 1984 their 
      oil company, Spectrum 7, acquired Mr. Bush's struggling West Texas oil 
      operation.
      The second-ranking Pioneer, Ronald Weiser, a Michigan businessman, raised 
      $588,309, according to the documents. Mr. Weiser serves as ambassador to 
      the Slovak Republic.
      The third-ranking Pioneer was the team of Howard Leach and Kristen Hueter 
      of California, who raised $429,610, according to the documents. Mr. Leach 
      is now ambassador to France.
      The list of people signed up to be Pioneers includes Ben Crenshaw, the 
      professional golfer; Tom Craddick, the speaker of the Texas House; Jeffrey 
      Barbakow, the chief executive of Tenet Healthcare; Archie W. Dunham, 
      chairman of ConocoPhillips, a major oil company; and Lonnie Pilgrim, a 
      chicken magnate in East Texas.
      The subpoenaed data also indicates that Tom Ridge, the former governor of 
      Pennsylvania who is secretary of homeland security, raised at least 
      $251,550 for Mr. Bush. Charles Cawley, the chief executive of MBNA, the 
      giant credit-card company that has been lobbying for bankruptcy 
      legislation more favorable to lenders, raised $369,156, the records 
      indicate.
      In response to the subpoena from the voting rights group, a lawyer for the 
      Bush campaign, Mitchell Berger, replied in a Sept. 25 e-mail message that 
      the list of fund-raisers had "no information for amounts raised by certain 
      Pioneers and that, for others, the amounts are below $100,000." The data 
      was "the most current information we have been able to locate," he wrote.
      Craig McDonald, the executive director of Texas for Public Justice, a 
      group that tracks campaign contributions and that is working with the 
      voting rights group, estimated that the actual amounts raised could be far 
      more than what is listed. "It just isn't believable that the president's 
      campaign" could lose such valuable fund-raising information, he said.
      Jim Dyke, the Republican National Committee spokesman, countered that the 
      Bush campaign "went further than any previous campaign in its disclosure 
      efforts, with real-time disclosure on its Web site," including information 
      about the Pioneers. 
      "People have a fundamental right to participate in the political life of 
      their country," Mr. Dyke added, "and organizing support for a candidate is 
      part of that."


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